India, Sri Lanka discuss entire gamut of bilateral ties (Lead)

New Delhi Nov 23 (IANS) India and Sri Lanka discussed the entire gamut of their bilateral relationship during a luncheon meeting hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted for his visiting Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe here on Thursday.

"During the luncheon meeting with the Prime Minister the two sides discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and ways to further deepen the historically close and friendly relations between the two countries " External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his weekly media briefing here.

On his part Wickremesinghe tweeted: "A strong economy in Sri Lanka starts with strong relationships with our friends around the world. In New Delhi with @NarendraModi to boost our partnership for our people."

Earlier the visiting dignitary attended the Fifth Global Conference on Cyber Space here which was addressed by Modi.

Sri Lanka is one of the major recipients of development credit given by India with total commitment of around $2.63 billion including $458 million as grants.

Indian aid includes development projects in areas like education health transport connectivity small and medium enterprise development and training in many parts of the country through grant funding.

--IANS
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